The theory behind double time is the same as with Half Time only everything is reversed. With this kind of groove the tempo is made to feel faster by having four snare hits in the bar played on all '+' counts. A simple example of this would be:
To show how this sounds against a common time groove play one bar of each. Again, the eight note hi hats remain constant in each bar but the second bar will feel faster.
Like any groove, there are countless variations on this basic pattern. Because of the note values used, double time grooves tend to use a lot of 16th notes, making them a bit more challenging for a beginner. I have listed four versions of double time grooves below. Don't worry too much if you can't play them just yet, we will have a more in depth lesson on this later on, for now work on the grooves you can play and remember what it means to play in double time.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
TASK
- Learn grooves given above, aim for a tempo of 130bpm.
- Practice switching from a common time groove to a double time groove, play each feel for various amounts of bars.
- Create your own double time groove patterns.
